Technology and design as a force for good

Prior to joining Yoti last April I spent much of the previous 25 years trying to figure out how technology might be used to help solve some of the more pressing humanitarian challenges of the day. It was 1985, during a more comfortable phase of my career, working in finance and information technology in Jersey, that Live Aid - the global music event put on to support famine relief in Ethiopia - changed the course of my life.

I switched careers and went on to help with school building projects in Zambia, hospital building and biodiversity surveys in Uganda, running a primate sanctuary in Nigeria, and carrying out technology-based research across much of southern and east Africa - with a degree in Social Anthropology sandwiched in between - which all lead me to begin developing my own mobile solutions to the problems I began to see.

You can hear more about my journey in global development, technology, and social change in this new 30 minute podcast from Social Design Insights. Supported by the Curry Stone Foundation, Social Design Insights is a podcast of conversations with leading designers who discuss innovative projects and practices that use design to address pressing social justice issues.

I am now using all of my experience, and all of the lessons learnt over those years, to help develop an exciting new social impact strategy at Yoti, due for launch in the next few weeks. Watch this space for more.